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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Brrrrrr...or not?

Moving back to Appalachia after six years of living elsewhere (one in southern California, five in Nashville, Tennessee) has thrown me for a loop in a number of ways, but so far, the weather has brought the biggest surprises. Winters in Los Angeles are very mild, and Nashville isn't exactly routinely afflicted by cold weather, either. In both places, all you really need is a good lined raincoat and a pair of rain boots to survive the chilly drizzly season that locals call winter.

Asheville is another matter entirely. Even though it's in the South, it's at a high enough elevation to where it gets really freaking cold. Not as cold as, say, Minnesota, but definitely frosty by Southern standards. It also snows with a fair amount of regularity. I am not good at dealing with cold weather or snow, especially since my winter wardrobe is pretty laughable at this point. Until a month ago, I owned a couple of sweatshirts, a handful of long-sleeved shirts, two or three thin sweaters, and one Columbia jacket with a zip-out fleece (that I pretty much never wore together). These proved insufficient during the first cold snap, and I had to make an emergency Old Navy run to buy sweaters, long-sleeved shirts, new pants (too cold for skirts with kneesocks or tights here), and, of course, heavy jackets.

I suppose it goes without saying that the week after I acquired my shiny new (GREEN! My favorite color) jacket, we had an unexpected warm spell that has continued to...today. Asheville friends: you're welcome. I just checked the weather, and the high is once again supposed to be over sixty. I should be thankful, as I'm scheduled to work outside today, but I know it won't be that warm all day, so I'm going to have to wear a long-sleeved undershirt (which means I'll be hot until five o'clock or so when the sun starts to set) and drag my (also new) heavy black coat and scarf with me to wear after the sun goes down and the temperature drops precipitously. I'm not a fan of cold weather, but it'd be nice to get some consistent temperatures.

Now that I have said that, it will snow tomorrow. Oh, mountain weather...